By
Bena Ilyas
April 23rd, 2024
Over the years, Musk has made multiple presentations about Starship, its design, and its aim. He also emphasized the rocket system’s ability to transport humans and cargo to Mars.
Elon Musk-owned spacecraft engineering corporation SpaceX is ready for the first launch of its Starship rocket system to space. Starship is the most powerful rocket ever developed, with almost 120m (400ft) height, and designed to have nearly X2 thrust of any rocket ever. The uncrewed demonstration will lift off on Monday from Boca Chica in Texas. This is where SpaceX has positioned Starship to take off at 8.00 a.m. CT (9 a.m. ET). However, it can take off anytime between 8 and 9:30 a.m. CT or 9 a.m. ET to 10:30 a.m. ET.
SpaceX Set to Launch Starship
The purpose of SpaceX launching Starship is to send the upper stage of the vehicle eastward in order to complete nearly one circuit of the globe. However, CEO Elon Musk has appealed to everyone to lower their expectations. Speaking at a Twitter ”Spaces” event, the businessman said he would “like to just set expectations low” as it is not rare for a rocket to experience some failures on its debut launch. The SpaceX head added that the Starship launch could succeed if it gets past the launch pad before “something goes wrong.” He added:
“Just don’t blow up the pad.”
“It’s the first launch of a very complicated, gigantic rocket, so it might not launch. We’re going to be very careful, and if we see anything that gives us concern, we will postpone the launch. If we do launch, I would consider anything that does not result in the destruction of the launch pad itself to be a win,” added he.
Also, this is the first attempt by SpaceX to launch a fully assembled, highly-anticipated Starship vehicle. It is expected to expand its fuel and separate from the Starship spacecraft less than three minutes after it takes off. This means it would leave the booster to be discarded in the ocean. Notably, Starship comprises two parts, including the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy booster. While the latter houses 33 engines, the former is built to detach after the booster expends its fuel to complete the mission.
Musk’s Vision for SpaceX
Over the years, Musk has made multiple presentations about Starship, its design, and its aim. He also emphasized the rocket system’s ability to transport humans and cargo to Mars. The businessman even said he founded the spacecraft engineering corporation with the sole vision of developing a vehicle to establish a human settlement on Mars. Although Musk lowered expectations for Starship, he hopes to make an impact in the rocket business with the launch. The billionaire believes the vehicle could help people experience interplanetary travel, marking a new era.
A professor of astronautical engineering at the University of Southern California, Garrett Reisman, expressed some confidence in Musk and Starship. “He sees Starship as potentially another giant paradigm shift, an incredible increase in capability – the capability to truly bring people on large scale to Mars,” said the SpaceX advisor about the CEO.